Shrimp with a kick!

1 lb frozen shrimp

~1 tsp ground black pepper

~1 tsp white pepper

~1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

~1 tsp rosemary

5 cloves garlic, smashed and diced

salt

olive oil

1 bunch asparagus

basmati rice

1. Put shrimp into ziplock bag with the spices and olive oil for at least an hour

2. Cook rice

3. Cook asparagus in olive oil in a pan for 2-4 minutes

4. Add shrimp (and everything else) to the pan and cook until shrimp are pink.

This was pretty tasty! The red pepper flakes added the right amount of kick and cooking the asparagus with the additional spices was pretty tasty! The only thing I would change is adding some lemon juice.

Chocolate chip porter beer bread

3 cups flour

3 tbsp sugar

3 tsp baking powder

salt

1 bottle beer (I used Kona coffee porter)

1 cups chocolate chips

1. Mix together dry ingredients

2. Add beer

3. Add chocolate chips and bake at 375 for 1hr.

This was delicious!!! Good use of the porter beer.

Roasted Garlic Potato Soup

1 garlic bulb

1 1/2 cup milk

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp olive oil

5 potatoes

1 onion

chicken stock

1 hunk of parmesan

1 tbsp butter

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut top off of garlic bulb and drizzle olive oil over top. Wrap in aluminum oil and bake for 30 min.

3. Add butter to pot, once melted add onion and thyme. Cook until translucent.

4. Add potatoes, chicken stock, parmesan and then smoosh out the garlic. Cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

5. Blend the soup and add milk. Cook until heated through.

Adapted from this recipe.

I made it with some cheese bread! The soup was quite delicious!

Scallops Pesto Pasta

1 lb bay scallops

2 cubes pesto

pine nuts

1/2 box farfalle pasta

Parmesan cheese

Fresh cut tomatoes

1. Boil pasta

2. Cook scallops. I sauted them in olive oil covered with flour/salt and pepper

3. Dethaw pesto

4. Toast pine nuts, chop and mix with pesto.

5. Drain pasta, add pesto mix and tomatoes.

6. Serve with scallops and voila!

Delicious!

Salmon Chowder

Based on two recipies (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alaskan-Salmon-Chowder/Detail.aspx?strb=1 and http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=476)

3 strips bacon

1 yellow onion

5 or 6 stalks diced celery

3 russet potatoes

3 carrots

2.5 cups chicken stock

1.5 C milk/and half and half

approx 1 lb salmon cubed

fresh parsley

1 tsp dill

1 red pepper

1 zucchini

salt and pepper

1. Cook the bacon

2. take out the bacon and cook onion and celery in the bacon fat

3. add potatoes and cook ~5 min

4. add carrots and chicken stock cook ~ 10 min on low

5. add everything else and cook until everything is done!

We ate it with yummy bread and it was quite good!!! will make again :)

Israeli Couscous with Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Original Source

1 jar sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 package Israeli whole-wheat couscous
2 C water
Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch green onions
1/4 C each fresh basil leaves and cilantro
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 portobello mushrooms, sliced

1. Cook couscous according to package directions.
2. Heat olive oil in pan, add garlic, chopped sun dried tomatoes and onions. Cook until tender.
3. Add basil, cilantro and lemon juice
4. Add mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes.
5. Add couscous to pan to mix in the juices and serve!

This turned out pretty well, I was originally worried the sun dried tomatoes would overpower everything, but the cous cous and mushrooms balanced it pretty well. Perhaps some parmesan cheese would have been a nice touch! Will definitely make again, the whole wheat cous cous could be balanced with the regular stuff.

Things to catch up on...

I've been cooking a lot lately but no time to blog! Here's the rundown:
Bacon and Lentil Bake (Pretty good, anything with bacon is an automatic win!)
Peach and Cornmeal Upside Down Cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peach-and-cornmeal-upside-down-cake?&rsc=cf_link&comments_page=1&&showComments=true&#conversation-container)-VERY tasty, I think that the cake part didn't turn out as well, not as moist, but still yummy.
Whole Grain orzo with Tomatoes, Basil, Pine Nuts and Ricotta. (Good, a little thicker than originally anticipated, however I enjoyed it) I also added some grilled chicken.
Some other food from the Cooking Light cookbook, it has brocolli, bowtie pasta, turkey sausage and something else. That was good also, I think that it needed something else, or the real brocolli that the recipe called for.
Last but not least, Crumpets! They were amazing.